Lawrence Walsh

Lawrence D. Walsh, 55, a Chicago Fire Department captain, served for more than 30 years with some of the city's busiest fire companies. A resident of the Beverly neighborhood, he died at home Wednesday. In the late 1960s, he was a lieutenant in the Woodlawn neighborhood during the time when large parts of it were burned down during riots. He later was a captain at 46th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. "He was a well-respected officer who was always on the busiest companies in the...

How come the present administration waited until after the election to mail out thousands of what amounted to foreclosure notices to small family farmers? And why did it wait until after the election to have the Justice Department try to get Oliver North off the hook by filing a brief in federal court disputing findings by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh? That's what I call dishonest political maneuvering.

By Timothy J. McNulty, a member of the Tribune's Washington bureau | January 23, 1994

The straight-backed retired judge, a tough old bird by any standard, stood before a row of television cameras and delivered his final judgment on a past Washington scandal. From his three-piece suit to his thin and meticulously combed hair, Lawrence Walsh's demeanor was both stern and gray, except when he recalled how boldly one Cabinet member had lied to congressional investigators. Only then did the independent prosecutor appointed to investigate the Iran-contra affair hint at...

When I read your Sept. 19 editorial on Oliver North (not "Ollie" North), I thought you had demoted Bernie Lincicome to the editorial page. Your editorial writer labeled North as a "scoundrel"; Ronald Reagan called him a national hero. You`re right that most Americans know how to tell a hero from a scoundrel. But you pinned that label on the wrong person. The real scoundrel in this case was prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, who wasted $27 million-plus on a make-work project for an army of lawyers that went...

A suitcase containing highly classified government documents, including secret codes, disappeared this summer after an aide to Iran-contra independent prosecutor Lawrence Walsh checked it at curbside at Los Angeles International Airport. The FBI has launched an intensive effort to recover the documents, which one source said had been carried to California for an interview with former President Ronald Reagan. Walsh's office said Thursday that the documents were stolen. The Justice...

By From an editorial by Scripps Howard News Service | February 4, 1991

No sooner had a federal judge ruled Thursday that a book about the prosecution of Oliver North can be published over the objections of special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh than Walsh's office announced the intention to appeal. Yet if Iran-contra was about anything besides politics, it was about secrecy in government. You might think those charged with uncovering the misdeeds of the Reagan White House should be equally willing for the light of day to fall on the activities of the special...

Five years after he began, the independent prosecutor investigating the Iran-contra affair said Thursday that he was ending his inquiry into the worst scandal of Ronald Reagan's presidency and has no plans to seek further indictments. The announcement by prosecutor Lawrence Walsh apparently concludes the investigation, which cost about $32 million, and ends speculation over whether he would try to build a criminal case against senior officials in the Reagan administration, including...

The special prosecutor in the Iran-contra affair has asked Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese to turn over thousands of documents related to the Justice Department's inquiry last fall into the sale of American arms to Iran, federal law-enforcement officials said Tuesday. They said the special prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh, had greatly expanded his investigation of the Justice Department and was seeking a broad range of department records, including investigative files, private notebooks and telephone-message slips.

Lawrence D. Walsh, 55, a Chicago Fire Department captain, served for more than 30 years with some of the city's busiest fire companies. A resident of the Beverly neighborhood, he died at home Wednesday. In the late 1960s, he was a lieutenant in the Woodlawn neighborhood during the time when large parts of it were burned down during riots. He later was a captain at 46th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. "He was a well-respected officer who was always on the busiest companies in the...

A suitcase containing highly classified government documents, including secret codes, disappeared this summer after an aide to Iran-contra independent prosecutor Lawrence Walsh checked it at curbside at Los Angeles International Airport. The FBI has launched an intensive effort to recover the documents, which one source said had been carried to California for an interview with former President Ronald Reagan. Walsh's office said Thursday that the documents were stolen. The Justice...

Elliott Abrams, the Reagan administration's fiercely anti-Communist Latin American policy chief, agreed Monday to cooperate with special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh after pleading guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra scandal. "This is clearly an important development that should enable us to move more quickly and with thoroughness to the conclusion of our investigation," Walsh said in a statement. Abrams, a chief architect of...

Five years after he began, the independent prosecutor investigating the Iran-contra affair said Thursday that he was ending his inquiry into the worst scandal of Ronald Reagan's presidency and has no plans to seek further indictments. The announcement by prosecutor Lawrence Walsh apparently concludes the investigation, which cost about $32 million, and ends speculation over whether he would try to build a criminal case against senior officials in the Reagan administration, including...

When I read your Sept. 19 editorial on Oliver North (not "Ollie" North), I thought you had demoted Bernie Lincicome to the editorial page. Your editorial writer labeled North as a "scoundrel"; Ronald Reagan called him a national hero. You`re right that most Americans know how to tell a hero from a scoundrel. But you pinned that label on the wrong person. The real scoundrel in this case was prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, who wasted $27 million-plus on a make-work project for an army of lawyers that went...

The continuing feud between Congress and Lawrence Walsh, independent counsel in the Iran-contra affair, has intensified with charges by the ranking Republican on the Senate Iran committee that Walsh's investigation is going on "ad nauseam" and interfering with the congressional inquiry. Walsh said Friday his investigation was moving ahead and could not be characterized as fast or slow. "There have been reports in the news media in recent weeks that my...

You don`t have to be an Oliver North admirer to like the Supreme Court decision this week that all but nullified his convictions in the Iran-contra case. And you don`t have to believe in the innocence of North or John Poindexter or, for that matter, Ronald Reagan to conclude that the effort to prove them guilty has become too costly-not so much in time and money as in damage to certain basic constitutional and governmental principles. Nevertheless, Lawrence Walsh, the Iran-contra special...

Elliott Abrams, the Reagan administration's fiercely anti-Communist Latin American policy chief, agreed Monday to cooperate with special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh after pleading guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra scandal. "This is clearly an important development that should enable us to move more quickly and with thoroughness to the conclusion of our investigation," Walsh said in a statement. Abrams, a chief architect of...

By From an editorial by Scripps Howard News Service | February 4, 1991

No sooner had a federal judge ruled Thursday that a book about the prosecution of Oliver North can be published over the objections of special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh than Walsh's office announced the intention to appeal. Yet if Iran-contra was about anything besides politics, it was about secrecy in government. You might think those charged with uncovering the misdeeds of the Reagan White House should be equally willing for the light of day to fall on the activities of the special...

The Reagan administration, which did irreparable harm to its foreign policy aims and its political standing with its conduct in the Iranamok scandal, is now being urged by some conservatives to compound the damage by pardoning John Poindexter and Oliver North for any crimes they committed. With friends like these, Ronald Reagan needs no enemies. Poindexter and North may not be guilty of any legal offense. Their defenders insist they aren`t. The special prosecutor,...

How come the present administration waited until after the election to mail out thousands of what amounted to foreclosure notices to small family farmers? And why did it wait until after the election to have the Justice Department try to get Oliver North off the hook by filing a brief in federal court disputing findings by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh? That's what I call dishonest political maneuvering.